The Long Road Home
by krissyg927
Summary: This is a Daryl/OFC story, I can't give too much away, hope you enjoy it. It was a prompt I found on twitter, "The taxi cab that doesn't bring you where you want to go, it brings you where you need to go."
1. Chapter 1

**_This was_** **** ** _from a prompt I found on Twitter. The taxi cab doesn't take you where you want to go. Instead_** **** ** _it takes you where you need to go._**

Talk to me softly  
There's something in your eyes  
Don't hang your head in sorrow  
And please don't cry  
I know how you feel inside I've  
I've been there before  
Somethin's changin' inside you baby  
And don't you know. Don't Cry by Guns and Roses

Jamie Gallagher was sleepwalking through life and had been for a while. A broken heart could do that to you; it could change your entire life, make you question everything you thought was true about yourself. It made her question her judgment, her intuition and if she was even loveable.

There had to be something wrong with her, for this to have happened right under her nose, for her not to have known what was coming. Surely she wasn't that naïve? Oh but she was, she was.

Unlucky in cards, unlucky in love, unlucky in life.

Love was a bitch.

It could destroy you and Jamie was well and good destroyed. Logically, she knew she would recover and that it would take time, but the emptiness in her chest from being discarded so thoughtlessly remained and mocked her.

Every day she woke up and said to herself 'I will feel better today' and everyday her very soul ached. The disappointment and the loss always just below the surface pulling her down like the undertow at Jones's Beach in the summertime.

Jamie walked in quicksand through every day, struggling to recover.

It always came back to the same thoughts, if the one person in your life that you counted on betrayed you, how could you possibly get over it, how could you go on? As she walked the sidewalk after her shift at the hospital her head hung low, her hair wisping in the wind around her face she thought about that.

They had met in college and had known each other a very long time. She thought they knew each other, anyway. She had thought he was her soulmate, and the reminder of how wrong she had been just kept eating at her day and night.

Jamie had followed Daniel, an investor to New York City on a promise of marriage that never happened, all the way from Ohio and now she was ashamed to go back home. She hadn't even told her mother that he had left her, likely her mother would ask 'What did you do to drive him away.'

Jamie's mother was not known to be the most supportive mother in the world and in reality, their relationship was very hot and cold. Jamie's mother had never wanted kids, and so they had never bonded correctly. Jamie was virtually motherless and without any family to help her heal from the shock of it all.

She did tell one person, though, the one person she could trust now.

Her best friend Lindsay knew, but she was the only one. It had been Lindsay that jumped on the subway that day when Jamie had called her and came all the way from Long Island to help Jamie through those first horrible days.

Lindsay had called out of work and virtually moved in with Jamie for that first terrible week. They spent it half- drunk all the time and watching old movies on TV. Lindsay made sure she ate when she didn't want to and made sure she got out of the house regularly.

If Lindsay hadn't been there, Jamie might not have made it, and they both knew it. But, now? She was just existing, moving through life and waiting for it to end. Deep down she knew she would feel better, eventually, but it would take time.

Maybe she would die first, and end the misery once and for all. She was never going to fall in love again, though; she was done with that.

It had been fourteen months since she sat down at the computer to do an in-service for work and found it. He had a secret life that she knew nothing about, including an E-Harmony account and an email account she had never seen before. It was all there in front of her.

Daniel had left a window open by mistake, his Twitter account, and Jamie's life ended. He had been telling some woman in New Jersey of all places, that he was leaving Jamie that very weekend. They planned to meet at Penn Station, and from there take the train to Newark Airport, then on to Jamaica.

Just a month before Jamie had asked him to take _her on vacation_ _and he said they couldn't afford it._

 _That was the first thing she thought of,_ _and then she cried. She cried for a long time, deep, wreaking sobs of grief and sorrow._

Then, in a panic, she opened up their joint bank account window and found three-quarters of it gone! He had left her just enough to pay the rent for the next month on their apartment in Brooklyn, where she now sat at the computer letting the tears fall anew.

Daniel had taken everything, and he could have well afforded to leave her some money to live on, but he didn't. He wanted to spend it all on his new girl, Jamie supposed.

Later, much later, she found out that was all done on purpose, he was too much of a coward to tell her to her face, and he never even came back to the apartment that night.

Eventually, he showed up for his things, three weeks later, with a tan and a cheap looking woman on his arm. Jamie kept her earbuds in the whole time, playing 'Call it Off' by Tegan and Sara in a never ending loop. That song got her through that horrible day and the days afterward.

She just listened to her song as they moved the hefty bags that Lindsay had thrown all of his belongings into. They had toyed with the idea of a bonfire in the backyard, but Daniel was a dick, and she didn't want to get into some kind of war with him. She just wanted him to leave her alone.

She didn't want him back, the love she had felt melted away in the days following her discovery, but she was damaged now, damaged and sad.

Now Jamie threw herself into her work as a pediatric nurse at All Saints Hospital in New York City. The babies and children warmed her heart and gave her purpose, and she needed that desperately.

She usually took the subway to work from Brooklyn every day, but on that day she planned to go to the Museum of Modern Art after work.

She had decided to treat herself to a taxi cab ride, and it was a good thing because the rain was slowly turning to snow and it was getting colder out by the minute. There was no one to tell her she couldn't, or that she was frivolous.

That was a freedom she did enjoy, and she grinned to herself.

As she passed by a shop window she looked at her reflection briefly as she smiled, her dimples were showing. That was a first; she hadn't smiled in such a long time.

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She didn't understand why the cab driver, who looked just like Norman Reedus, right down to the baseball cap and Ray-Bans told her to go into the little bar, but he said she needed to and she thought he was crazy.

She never came to The Village, well not unless Lindsay dragged her out on Saturday afternoons, but never to go out at night, Jamie was a homebody.

She knew the bar, she and Lindsay had walked past it dozens of times, it was called 'The Slaughtered Lamb' after some movie she recalled seeing when she was young.

It was a tiny little place, but lively, with people milling around outside and in the doorway under an awning because of the weather. Jamie glanced back at Norman's twin, and he nodded at her 'Go in' he mouthed to her, and she shrugged.

In for a penny, in for a pound, she supposed.

She walked into the bar and was immediately assaulted with the sounds of a band singing "Tu Vuo Fa L'Americano," and she knew that voice. Her heart sped up, for the first time in months and she felt goosebumps erupt all along her arms.

It was a voice from way in her past, the voice of the boy who sang.

His voice had always been one of her favorite things in the world, but they had lost touch long ago.

Memories flooded her, of warm summer days together, when they were young. He had been before Daniel, and she had been thinking of him through the years.

He had left Ohio to follow his dream, and to Jamie, it looked like he was still on that journey. at

She looked up at the stage, and it was indeed Michael, and before she knew it, he was staring at her. He kept singing, but that look somewhere between disbelief and joy on his face didn't leave.

Michael finished the song and was off the stage in a second, leaving his bandmates in confusion. The hat he was wearing fell off of his head, and he didn't even to stop and pick it up.

"Jamie?" He said as he wrapped his arms around her. "What are you doing in New York?"


	2. Dreams

Daryl stared at her across the table, not believing she was there, and in front of him. The music played in the background, and it was so relaxing to both of them, they were like two weary travelers that night. Two old friends reunited by fate. Two people grateful to have crossed paths again. Two former lovers who still missed and loved each other.

They talked about old times and their days together as teenagers and marveled at how they had both changed through the years. It was like coming home for Jamie, and she smiled more that night than she had the past fourteen months.

She didn't even know what she had seen in Daniel now; it was like he never existed.

There was sweet music playing in the background, Fleetwood Mac, "Hold Me," as they talked long into the night about everything and anything as if they hadn't been apart for so long.

"Can you understand me  
Baby don't you hand me a line  
Although it doesn't matter  
You and me got plenty of time

There's nobody in the future  
So baby let me hand you my love  
Oh, there's no step for you to dance to  
So slip your hand inside of my glove

Hold me, hold me, hold me  
Hold me, hold me, hold me."

Daryl had not seen Jamie in at least twelve years. It had been at their high school graduation, when he hugged her goodbye and left to make music with his brother, and what later became their band, The Midnight Rats. It had been a calling that he couldn't deny and Jamie had understood his need to leave and try and follow his dream. Although she loved him, she supported his decision.

He was still in love with her; he told her that straight up.

A lot had happened since then, and she needed to be informed. But how could he tell her what he needed her to know, before things got too deep, it already was, with her it always would be.

Still, he was happy to see her and to be with her now. Sweet moments like this were well worth the sacrifices of his past.

He loved her, he always did and always would. No matter what.

"I've always thought about you, Jamie." He said, settling on the truth.

"Me too, I just can't believe you're here." Jamie was beaming, and she couldn't suppress the smile that was getting bigger, the longer they talked.

"I still love you, never stopped actually," He said, and that was true, but there was more, much more to say, but for now it was enough and all she had to hear. He slid his hand over hers softly, "It's always been you."

"Daryl, I have held every man I have ever been with to your standard, and they have always fallen so short, no one measured up to you. We can do this; we can be together."

Could they? He wondered about that; maybe there was a way, perhaps she could fit somehow into his world now.

"Have you been singing at all?" He asked, and she blushed.

"No, I'm a nurse now Daryl, I gave that up, well, when you left." He reached across the table and took her other hand; it was there, that old feeling about her. The one that never left him. He could tell she felt it too.

The band traveled all around the country, they had a job to do, and now it had led him to her. Or led her to him, he wasn't sure which, and the job came first, before anything as insignificant as feelings.

Still, looking into her green eyes made him remember his first love, so long ago. The memories flooded his brain, and they talked all night it seemed. They had so many happy times when they were young, but could she accept existence on the road with him, could he ask her?

He introduced her to the other band members after they played another set and she sat and watched them. Merle was thrilled to see her again and teased Daryl a bit before going to put his electric guitar in the case and disappearing with the other guys so that they could talk.

"Well, well well little brother, imagine the odds?" Merle had said, and Daryl just waved him away.

"So happy to see you, Merle," Jamie replied and stood up to hug him. He hugged her back like the big brother she remembered. Merle always gave the best hugs ever.

"Good to be seen." He said with a wink at Daryl, "You too have fun now." He crooned, and then he disappeared into the crowd.

She asked Daryl about the band and how they came to be. There was so much to hear!

There were four of them, Daryl, Merle, Michael, and Sal. Sal was the one he had been singing with when Jamie walked in. He was Italian and had taught them the song, so they sang it in both English and Italian.

It was fantastic to her, the sound of his voice after so long. She had been called to the bar by the sound of his voice, like a siren's song.

Later, Jamie and Daryl sat at the small table in the back as another band took the stage. Merle and the other guys joined them, and they all had another round of drinks.

Daryl's eyes never left her and Merle took note. He would have to talk to his brother about this later but now was not the time.

Merle couldn't help but notice how haunted she seemed.

She asked how he and Daryl had met the other guys and he told her stories of driving to California and meeting all sorts of people in the music business, Sal and Michael had been roadies at a Pearl Jam concert that he and Merle had attended.

On a smoke break, they had gotten to talking, and a few days later they were jamming in Sal's garage and soon they took to the road in an old VW bus they had all chipped in to buy.

The rest was history, working odd jobs and playing gigs at night, they had traveled the country. Jamie was amazed by the stories they told, and she wanted to hear more. Then Daryl informed them all that Jamie used to be in chorus with him in high school, they invited her to sing with them, but she declined.

She could never do that; she was far too insecure.

Still, they extracted a promise that one day she would sing with them.

After the bar had closed they walked outside, and Daryl lit a cigarette, Jamie noticed the cab driver still sitting in the space she had walked from hours before. It was odd to her, but with Daryl's hand in hers, she felt safe and happy, she hadn't felt that in so long. The cabbie looked like he hadn't moved the whole time Jamie had been inside, his hat was covering his head, and he was asleep in the car. She giggled at that and stood with Daryl talking.

"How long is this gig?" She asked and looked over at him.

"As long as it takes." He answered cryptically.

"Do you play tonight?" She asked, letting his weird response go for a moment, they had agreed that they wanted to see each other again and she couldn't wait.

"Every night, will you come back?" He said, looking into her eyes, his bright blue eyes shining in the lamplight.

"I'll come back tonight."

Daryl threw down his cigarette and started walking her to the cab, his hand went to the small of her back, and she remembered his touch from long ago. Daryl felt it too, as he slapped his hand down on the hood and woke Norman's twin.

"Hey, you got a customer," Daryl said as the other man woke up, pulled his hat off of his face, placed it over his shaggy hair and sat upright in the car. "Make sure she gets to where she needs to go," Daryl said as he handed the man two twenties.

"It's what I do man, no worries." The other man replied. "We all got a job to do."

Then Daryl did something so out of character and turned to Jamie and kissed her sweetly on the lips, brief and with a touch of longing.

"No matter what Jamie, I want you to know that I have always loved you, and I always will." He said, and the longing was there in his voice, the longing for something he didn't think he could have.

He held her tight, not wanting to let her go, then she looked up at him with her eyes clearer than they had been in a long time.

"I love you; I won't let you go again." She whispered.

 _You may have to, he thought to himself._

"I'll see you later." He said and opened the door and helped her into the back seat. He stood and waved as the car pulled away and then lit another cigarette.

He hadn't seen this coming, and she was going to be a complication. Merle was beside him the second Jamie pulled away.

"Just imagine the odds brother, that she would be here," Merle said, and Daryl turned to him. "Tonight, in a city so far from home."

"Let me handle this Merle; she don't know and I ain't ready to tell her yet. I just want to imagine it could be the way it used to be, just for a while."

"But you know we have to go, we got gigs to play, things we gotta do." He said, lighting a cigarette and handing it to Daryl, then he lit one for himself and took a long pull on it. Jamie was a complication even he hadn't seen coming.

Merle was as surprised as Daryl that she had walked into the bar, this bar on this night.

"I'm aware." Daryl replied, "Just give me this time with her, before it all goes to shit, ok?" Daryl said, "Cause we both know it will."

"Alright, brother, but you know the rules," Merle replied as Michael and Sal came out, and the four of them walked down the quiet street in the pre-dawn hours.

Daryl was already trying to figure out how to make it different this time and Merle knew it.

"I don't want no damage  
But how am I gonna manage with you  
You hold the percentage  
But I'm the fool payin' the dues

I'm just around the corner  
If you got a minute to spare  
I'll be waitin' for ya'  
If you ever want to be there

Hold me, hold me, hold me  
Hold me, hold me, hold me."

33333333333333333333333333333333

Jamie woke up with a start and immediately knew she was late. As her eyes adjusted to the light shining through her bedroom window, she noticed how dirty the place was. Jamie made a mental note to clean up the apartment and her life, starting now and chastised herself for letting the place go. The cab driver had delivered her home at three fifteen that morning, and she had overslept.

It had been hard to fall asleep after the events of the night. Her self-indulgent trip to the museum had turned into a date with her destiny. There had to be some reason that Daryl was back in her life, but she couldn't quite figure it out.

She was just happy, and happy was a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time.

As she walked into the bathroom, she noticed she was out of contact lenses and would have to wear her glasses. Jamie looked in the mirror and pondered over the strange dream she had last night.

Lindsay and Daniel had been on a busy street, in front of a church or a community center and she had been telling him to go the fuck home.

Daniel was almost crying, which was odd because he never cried, but Lindsay wasn't backing down. She lit into him as only she could, defending Jamie with everything she had.

But why a church? Then she dreamed of Daryl, singing on the stage as he was a few hours ago. It was connected somehow; she just knew it.

Was she having a premonition of her wedding, to Daryl? The thought made her giddy with joy. It seemed that this heartbreak was finally healing and for the first time in a long time Jamie felt happy. She giggled more as she remembered the end of the dream, Lindsay had punched Daniel in the face and told him to go the fuck away.

And he did, finally. Jamie was mad that he would think he could break up her wedding, and she was glad Lindsay handled that for her. She would call her later and talk to her about the dream, Lindsay would love it. Maybe they could have lunch that day; there was so much she needed to tell her.

Jamie pulled on her scrubs and looked around the bathroom; it needed a good cleaning too, what had she been doing all these months in her misery?


	3. Landslide

Jamie slid into work at nine am, two hours late, but thankfully her boss just ran right past her in a hurry to get to a code blue. That was a stroke of luck, so Jamie just went about her business of caring for the children on the ward and praying for whoever the code blue child was.

She carefully stayed out of her bosses view all day and just went about her work.

Ministering to the sick children always took her right out of her head and before she knew it hours had passed.

At lunch, she tried to call Lindsay, but she didn't answer, which was strange. She wanted to tell her about the dream, about the hope she felt now. Things were going to be alright. Intellectually Jamie knew it was so stupid to base so much hope on one chance encounter, but she couldn't help it, talking to Daryl had put her at ease the way nothing else could.

With one touch of his hand, she had felt secure, she felt loved at that moment, and the feeling gave her heart wings to fly.

That night she got ready to go down to the Village to see Daryl, and she tried calling Lindsay again. It went to voice mail, and Jamie left a message for her to call or to meet her at 'The Slaughtered Lamb' that night.

She decided to walk to the bar after she got off the subway not too far from the hospital. It was a beautiful evening, still, and light out, and she wore her favorite red dress, leather jacket, and black boots, she felt right, for the first time in a long while.

She walked the few blocks from the subway to the bar with a smile and humming a song from long ago to herself. Her reflection in the windows she passed were of a beautiful, smiling woman. She had even put on lipstick.

Ahead of her by a block or so, she thought she saw Lindsay, carrying the most beautiful flowers Jamie had ever seen, she was walking just ahead of her. Jamie called to her, but Lindsay turned the corner, and Jamie lost her in the crowd.

Jamie hoped she would show up at the bar later; it was rare for Lindsay to be in the city, she must have gotten Jamie's messages.

333333333333333333

Merle smiled as he stood next to Daryl at the bar and they both watched Jamie walk in. She was always a pretty little thing, Merle thought to himself, and he knew Daryl had always been in love with her, and from the looks of it, she felt the same. It was like they were teenagers again and the years and time and complications just melted away it seemed.

 _Some things_ _never change, no matter how much we change._

"You tell her tonight brother; she has a right to know," Merle said sipping his drink.

"Well, ain't that why we're here ya think," Daryl said dryly, as he threw back a shot of Jamison and asked for another.

That was always how it happened; he would cross the path of someone who needed his help. But he knew Jamie; he had never known them before. But how could he still do his job now and not be distracted by her, by what he wanted?

Jamie was beside him in a few seconds, and he hugged her to him. This idea that had been brewing in his head all day had to work, there had to be a way, and he wouldn't stop until he figured it out.

He just couldn't let her go again.

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The night was beautiful, and the bar was lively, The Midnight Rats were on later, so they all ate and drank together until it was time to go on. Their set that night was a mixture of old and new music, perfect for her as Jamie sat at the front table watching them.

Merle had given her a few drinks and when he suggested she get up and sing she readily agreed. The alcohol had made her braver than she ever thought of being. Merle came down off the stage and took her hand. Daryl placed his hat on her head as she stood next to him on the stage.

He knew after this he had to tell her, but at this moment it was as if they were kids again, singing together on some other stage long ago. Their eyes met as the band started, and she could feel his breath on her lips, they were so close.

Jamie knew then; she never wanted to be apart from him again.

She knew the song, of course, she did. They would sing it together a long time ago, it fit now, and somehow she knew they were meant to be together forever.

She hoped it wasn't just wishful thinking. He kissed her once and then they began to sing. Their faces so close to each other at the mike.

"Rock on gold dust woman  
Take your silver spoon  
Dig your grave

Heartless challenge  
Pick your path and I'll pray

Daryl kissed her again as they sang, to the applause and whistles of the audience.

Wake up in the morning  
See your sunrise loves to go down  
Lousy lovers pick their prey  
But they never cry out loud  
Cry out

Daryl kissed her again, and the crowd went wild. They smiled at each other, and he swore he could see a younger version of her before him.

Did she make you cry  
Make you break down  
Shatter your illusions of love  
And is it over now do you know how to  
Pick up the pieces and go home."

When she turned to look at Daryl after the song was over, he had the saddest look on his face, and she hugged him tight as Merle took the mike and started singing "Landslide."

"We're going to be ok." She whispered into his neck.

Daryl took Jamie by the hand and led her through the crowd. They could hear Merle singing in the background as they made their way to the back door. He sounded just like Billy Corgan from 'The Smashing Pumpkins'

"I took my love, and I took it down  
I climbed a mountain, and I turned around  
And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills  
And the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky  
What is love?  
Can the child within my heart rise above  
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides  
Can I handle the seasons of my life."

As his hand rested on the door, she turned to him.

"Are you ok?" She asked looking up at him.

"No," He kissed her again sweetly, "But I'm gonna be." He said as he pulled her outside into the alley. "Come on let's walk."

He took her hand and led her down the street as he started telling her what he was, and what she was.


	4. Change

I don't feel the suns comin' out today  
Its staying in, its gonna find another way.  
As I sit here in this misery, I don't  
Think I'll ever see the sun from here.

And oh as I fade away,  
They'll all look at me and say, and they'll say,  
Hey look at him! I'll never live that way.  
But that's okay  
They're just afraid to change. Change by Blind Melon

They were in Times Square suddenly after just walking past 'Jekyll and Hyde's' in the Village. Jamie knew no way was it possible. Not even the magic cab driver who read people's minds could pull that off, even if he looked like the finest man she had ever seen.

Jamie looked around in shock, at the lights, the traffic around them, how did that happen? It was three miles away from where they just were on a quiet street, many blocks of walking, and now they were suddenly in the middle of all the noise and chaos of New York at its best.

Jamie was dumbfounded, even though he had explained things to her just a little while ago.

"Yeah, we can do this," Daryl said, reading her mind and watching the recognition creep over her face. "There's so much I have to tell you now that you know."

And she had questions, many of them.

"The cab driver?"

"He's what we call a familiar; they help us do our job, there's a lot of them in this world," Daryl answered.

"He's alive then?"

Daryl nodded.

"But we aren't?"

"No."

"But I feel…"

Daryl took her hand and kissed it, "I know." He replied.

Then suddenly they were on top of the empire state building, Jamie looked down and didn't feel dizzy as expected as the ground wobbled below in her sight. She'd always had a fear of heights, and it was gone as she held his hand and balanced with him on the rail of the observatory deck.

She looked down at the street and felt the adrenaline rush through her body; her heart pounded with excitement as she looked over at him. He squeezed her hand and held tight as he spoke.

"We aren't Jamie." He said as the wind blew through their hair and he brought her closer to the edge of the rail they were standing on. "We've both been dead for a long time."

Then he leaned back pulling them both to the side until they were free-falling backward in mid-air. Then when they stopped, they were sitting on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, high above the city and cars below. Their legs were dangling as they sat above the traffic, and still, she wasn't scared.

"I know it's hard to comprehend, let me show you if you want to see."

"I need to see it all, I think." She replied slowly.

He waved his hand in front of them as a picture formed and she saw herself walking out of the ER door with her earbuds in her ears. Clearly, it was Christmas time, the streets were decorated and lit up, but it was March now. She was watching her past, yet she could hear the music.

'Call, break, it, off. Call, break, my, own heart, maybe I would have been something you'd be good at?"

The music rang through her ears as if she was hearing it now. It was like watching a movie. The heartbreak still so raw and radiating off her former self.

Then she saw the car, careening out of control down the alley she had been taking a short cut through to get to the coffee shop she loved.

"I was hit by a car…" She whispered as it all became clear at that moment to her. "Did I…"

He could feel the grief radiating off of her in waves.

"No." Daryl answered quickly "No sweetheart; you didn't commit suicide, although I know you thought about it. It happened outside your hospital on your lunch hour, thirteen months ago. It was an accident; the driver was drunk. You never even knew what hit you thanks to the iPod."

 _Thirteen months!_

"But, then why didn't I know." She couldn't comprehend how what he said was true. He explained that her spirit was uneasy, sad and grieving, possibly she had thought she committed suicide likely and couldn't face that. So she wandered, in the apartment, the hospital and all around the city where she died.

"There's no explanation for that; it happens sometimes, if people have unresolved things going on at the time, they kind of get distracted and can't move on. And that's where my job comes in."

"Others die, and they don't know it?"

"Yes, very often, and the guys and I facilitate, help them see and move onto the afterlife. I don't know why, but it's what we do."

Daryl waved his hand in front of them again to conjure up another thing for her to see, something he knew she would want to see.

He showed her the dream, of Lindsay and Daniel, but it was clearer this time. Lindsay had been throwing Daniel out of her funeral.

It was her funeral she dreamed about, not her wedding, and she could almost smell the flowers that had decorated the church.

Daniel had shown up uninvited, and Lindsay had punched him out and told him he had a lot of nerve crying now that Jamie was gone. He hadn't given fuck all about her when she was alive, and Lindsay was not allowing him to make a scene.

Then she had taken care of Jamie's mother; she threw her out as well.

Daryl took her by the hand, and they sat in silence as she digested all he had shown her.

"So you drive around like the two guys on 'Supernatural'?", She asked after a little while. "Showing people the way to the light?"

"Well, not quite like them, but we never know until we see the person who needs us, and some don't accept it at all. They know, but they don't want to move on."

Daryl snapped his finger and sitting next to them was Shannon Hoon from 'Blind Melon' looking every bit of the way he looked at the height of his career.

His hair was long, and he wore jeans and a t-shirt, the way everyone would remember him. Jamie thought he was so ethereal and beautiful and her eyes felt almost blinded by the glow of him.

Did they all glow, did she? Daryl didn't, and she was confused by this.

"Hey, Daryl," Shannon said. "How's it going."

"Good Shannon, real good." Daryl said, "And you?"

Shannon nodded with a bright smile on his face and Jamie was struck again how beautiful he was.

"You ready yet, Shannon?" Daryl asked, and Shannon slowly shook his head.

"Going to Bonnaroo this year man, maybe after that." He replied, "Who's your friend?"

"This is Jamie."

Then to her surprise and delight, Shannon took her hand and kissed it. "Charmed." He said smiling up at her, with a quirk of his eyebrow. "Ever been to Bonnaroo Jamie?"

She shook her head. "No."

"You let me know if you wanna go, ok?" He said, and Jamie laughed.

"I will, thanks uh?"

"Call me Shannon, everyone does." He said with a bright smile.

Jamie swallowed and uttered, "I love your music."

Shannon smiled brightly, "Thank you, that's very kind of you. Let me know about Bonnaroo, ok?"

Jamie smiled and nodded and looked over at Daryl, he wasn't jealous exactly, unnerved maybe, that Shannon was asking her to go with him, but the smile crept over his face because he knew she was his. He hoped for all eternity; he had been asking all day since she walked in the bar the night before.

The answer had not been given yet, Jamie had to make a choice first, and then it would be decided, and not by him.

Daryl shook his head, "Ok, man you know where to find me." Daryl said as they fist pounded, and then Shannon was gone, and Jamie just stared at the place where one of her musical idols was just sitting.

"I'm not the only one to try and help him, he just can't accept it, and he's content the way things are. You can't be forced; it has to be willing acceptance."

"And if I don't?"

Daryl shrugged.

"Can people see you, and me?" She asked.

"No, yes, sometimes, it's all different. Some people have that psychic twinkle, ya know? Like Emily, your boss; she couldn't even see you. But some of those kids, they could see you. They felt the comfort you were trying to give. " Daryl said.

Jamie felt tears start to fall over her face. Her heart still longed to take care of the children, even after death. It was taking her breath away.

"And Jamie, she tried to save you, when they brought you into the ER, Emily was the first one there that day and cried for weeks after, she still does sometimes."

Jamie didn't want anyone to be upset because of her, the thought of Emily grieving, because she couldn't save her, made the tears fall anew.

"Can't I send her some sign to let her know I'm ok?" She said wiping her face and taking a handkerchief Daryl had suddenly produced.

"That's not how it works." He said softly, wiping her tears with his thumbs and staring into her eyes.

"But the bar?"

"Full of dead people, live ones too." He replied.

"But we eat and drink, and smoke." She motioned towards the cigarette he held in his hand.

"Because not all of them know they're dead, like you, it's that way wherever we go." He explained, "We don't call attention to ourselves, by being different, for the ones who don't know."

"But how do you know who to help?" She asked. "Where to go next?"

Daryl shrugged, "We just do, there's many of us, helpers and at the right time, we meet those who need us. It just always works out that way."

"When they see you, right. That was what Merle meant by its good to be seen?" She said, "He was glad I could see all of you."

Daryl nodded.

"The crowd, though, all the people you play for, they can't all be gone, can they?" She asked, "And Shannon Hoon, he knows he's dead?"

"Most of the time that's how it is. There are many wandering souls out there." Daryl replied. "Shannon said he saw Layne Stanly in Little Rock, Arkansas; I haven't seen him, someone else must be working with him."

He pointed down to the city lights and beyond and Jamie nodded, so many lost souls, living and dead.

"I don't question all of how it works, who sees me and why is confusing even for me. I tried in the beginning, but all I ever got was told to go do this work."

"Told by who?"

Daryl looked up towards the sky, full of stars and a bright full moon and she understood.

"So essentially you're giving me a choice, to move on or stay this way?" She said, "And I would go back to the apartment in Brooklyn and stay with the children at the hospital?"

Daryl nodded. "Or you could go to Bonnaroo with Shannon Hoon." He shrugged, with a chuckle.

"Can you imagine?" She grinned devilishly.

"Been there." Daryl said, "Now, seriously."

Then Daryl waved his hand again and showed Jamie the gravestone, with sunflowers and daisies all around it. Jamie remembered calling to Lindsay in the street, while she had been carrying those flowers and how she didn't turn around.

Now she knew that she couldn't hear her.

"She puts them there every week; she misses you so much."

"She really called my mother out on how she treated me?"

"Yeah she did, she was on a tear that day, half crying and telling people who treated you badly off." Daryl laughed. "She was a good friend to you, and I'm sure you were to her."

"Can I go tell her goodbye?"

Daryl shook his head. "I'm afraid not honey."

"She didn't get my voice mail did she?"

"No, we are usually unable to communicate with anyone but each other and the familiars," Daryl said. "Only those we are helping or working with, like the guys and me. Except for the few with that psychic twinkle, but even then, I think they don't really understand what we are."

"Daryl, can I stay with you?" She asked, "Maybe I could help you do your work."

She had read his mind; maybe it was all falling into place. Maybe his prayers were about to be answered.

"I want you too; I think I was sent here not just to help you through, but to take you with me, with us."

Jamie hoped that was true, Daryl told her that once she accepted that she was dead, she would move on to where she was supposed to be, and that he hoped it would be right next to him.

"How did you die?" Jamie had so many questions for Daryl now; some answers just led to more questions, though. Maybe they weren't meant to understand all of it, and maybe that was what faith was all about.

"Yes, we all died in a head-on collision ten years ago in Colorado, some little town called Evergreen." Daryl said, "Coming from a gig in an ice storm."

Jamie gasped at that news. Ten years? She never knew, never felt his absence.

"Did you know I was dead?" She asked.

"No, not till I saw you the other night." He said. "We just travel around, helping people we come across, so random, really, and last night I came across you." He said, wistfully, and ran his hand through his hair, "Maybe that wasn't so random."

"So now I have to accept it, and see where I end up, right?" She asked taking his hand as if that would stop her from being pulled away from him.

She closed her eyes.

"Go ahead, don't be afraid," Daryl whispered. "Either way you will finally have peace."

Jamie laid her head on his shoulder one last time and breathed him in.

"A kiss for luck?" She asked.

And he kissed her like it was the last time he would ever get to do it. Jamie looked up at the moon, and down at the cars below them. Then she closed her eyes and gripped Daryl's hand.

"I accept this." She said, still keeping her eyes closed, "I am ready to move on, wherever it is I'm supposed to be."

She felt something swirling around her and a great light shining, much like the light that surrounded Shannon Hoon. She could feel a pull go through her body and she was weightless for a moment, but she was still seated next to Daryl when it was over.

Suddenly the rest of the band members were sitting next to her and Daryl was still holding her hand. Merle playfully shoulder tapped her. "You gonna sing with us darlin?" He smiled brightly at her and slung his arm over her shoulder.

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Epilogue

The VW bus was parked in another town now, far from New York and many months after Jamie accepted her fate. And in the small café, a man and a woman could be heard singing accompanied by three men on guitars and horns. They were in Derry, Maine singing to a mixture of the living and the dead, and those that could see them. It was the way it was supposed to be. There was snow on the ground, and the music could be heard out in the parking lot, in the doorway stood Shannon Hoon, and he sang along with them. He caught Jamie's eye and gave her thumbs up, then he accepted and walked out the door to the other side and his own destiny.

1\. "When you feel your life ain't worth living  
You've got to stand up and  
Take a look around you then a look way up to the sky.  
And when your deepest thoughts are broken,  
Keep on dreaming boy, cause when you stop dreamin' it's time to die.

And as we all play parts of tomorrow,  
Some ways will work and other ways we'll play.  
But I know we all can't stay here forever,  
So I want to write my words on the face of today.  
And then they'll paint it."

When the music stopped, and she watched Shannon walk away, she smiled at Daryl and kissed him softly. The lights went down on the stage as Jamie took the mike and sang 'Landslide' to the man she had loved all her life and would love into the next.

 ** _This story is_** **** ** _my homage to M. Night Shyamalan, my favorite director. I adore all his movies, even the ones that people don't like. I just think his brain is a vibrant place of the macabre and unexpected. I have been thinking about The Sixth Sense for a few weeks now and didn't know why until today. Also for some reason, I needed to include Derry, Maine, anyone know who that is in homage to? Another bright mind that I am in awe of. Until we meet again my lovely readers, remember that I adore you and think of you often when night falls, and it's dark outside. Xxxxx Krissy._**


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